Take a good look around, cause you're gonna miss this

I've been saying for months that I can't wait to graduate college. I was born for the working world: business attire, project based work, life outside of a college town. I am ready. I am. Or so I keep telling people. Inside, however, my heart aches when I walk past Sanford Stadium and my mind baffles at the thought of walking under the Arch. Maybe I'm not as ready as I once thought.

I've been spending a lot of time in a little on-campus cafe the past few weeks. I'll grab a coffee, sit on one side of the room, do work and people watch. I see an amazing culmination of people every time I'm here. As I look around the room right now, I see a friend from freshmen year, I see parents eating lunch with their child, colleagues and friends discussing work, and every diverse group of students you can imagine (think Mean Girls, but where everyone is nice to each other). It's easy to spot the freshmen, but the upperclassmen are harder to pick out.

The lines blur after your first year. Age and grade level cease to matter. We're here to get degrees, make memories and move on to the next chapter of our lives. For most of us, going to college wasn't even a question; it was expected of us. This is what we were supposed to do. Yet, reflecting on when I decided to go to The University of Georgia four years ago, I couldn't even fathom the opportunities I would be afforded, the people I would meet, and the events I would get to experience. I get a headache if I think about it for too long; how have four years already passed?

When we're in college and constantly worried about that exam next week or interviewing for the executive board of our favorite campus organization, we don't think about the end. We watch as older people turn that tassel to the other side of their cap and walk under the Arch, but our own graduation was never occurred to us. Graduation was for "them," not you or me. Now, with one month left until I am on the field in Sanford, I don't want this end. Am I really ready to move on? School, a constant stream of projects and exams and a calendar so full it would make a movie star feel unimportant is what I have know for 16 years. Not having school as my norm anymore? That's an overwhelming idea if I've ever known one. So here's to not having a clue, to navigating life after school, to making even more mistakes (and learning from them), to dealing with insurance and all that jazz. Cheers to my dawgs, to my fellow 2014 graduates. Who knew that the past four years would be so sweet? Forever we'll say, Go Dawgs!